LIN-X hinge - a space saving kitchen idea from Japans masters of soft closing technology

New ideas are always well received in the fast moving kitchen manufacturing industry but real innovation is hard to find. The principle of sliding doors is great, you can get into the cupboard without having a door swing out into your personal space. The downside is that they tend to look clunky, they have tracks that fill with kitchen detritus, there is always some part of the cupboard that is obscured by overlapping doors and so on.

The LIN-X takes the concept of the sliding door into the twenty first century. It uses a new parallel opening door mechanism which opens smoothly out and to the side and has many advantages over conventional swing doors and sliding doors. It is flush closing which allows it to fit well into a contemporary design.

It is perfect for overhead or hanging cabinets where there is a danger of banging your head or floor cabinets where the gangway can get blocked by normal swing doors.

When open the LIN-X occupies very little space, as it positions itself over the adjacent cupboard door or wall. This gives clear and unobstructed access to the inside of the cupboard allowing double door installations for flat screen TVs.

When closed the flush doors can have a gap of as little as 2mm even with double door installations. In double door installations the doors can be opened independently. The system can be installed on inside ‘blind’ corners as would be found in an ‘L’ shaped kitchen or on the outside corners of a cabinet such as on a kitchen island.

LIN-X is a robust system where handles can be put in any position and the door is still easy to open.

The soft closing feature works in concert with a free stop feature so that other than the last soft closing part of the motion the doors can be stopped and left in any position.

The system is internally fitted using clip mounts on standard concealed hinge mounting plates. and when closed is indistinguishable from a conventionally hinged cabinet.